Numerous sea-swallows (_Sterna hirundo_, Linn.) and brown boobies flew about the ship as we approached nearer the land; the former fishing in groups. After the toil of the day, they return in small flocks to the island, usually about the close of the evening, (as well as the gannets and other birds that do not wander far from the land,) reposing and breeding among the ledges of the huge masses of sterile volcanic rocks.[88] The frigate birds, (or sea-hawks, as they are also named,) are seldom or never seen far distant from land: the male birds are black, and have a red pouch; the females have a white breast, and are destitute of the pouch. In procuring fish for their food, these birds prefer seizing it from the boobies and gannets, instead of catching it themselves. To attain this object, the sea-hawk hovers above the gannet, (which is the bird most usually selected for attack,) and, darting rapidly down, strikes him on the back of the head, causing him to disgorge his prey, which is seized by the hawk with an inconceivable rapidity before it reaches the water, and afterwards soars aloft to look out for another object of attack. It is not an uncommon circumstance to observe a single gannet selected from a flock, and come out to be the subject of attack, as if he had been called by the hawk in preference to the others. The gannet, however, manœuvres to avoid the blow, by darting about, lowering himself from his elevation in the air at every dart, and, raising his beak in a perpendicular direction; by these means it eludes the blow of the hawk from behind, and they frequently both fall into the water together; the hawk only having the advantage over the gannet when hovering in the air, the latter escapes. At the Island of Ascension, where these birds are common, I was informed by Lieutenant M’Arthur, (Marine Artillery,) that the method practised by the hawks to oblige the gannet to disgorge their prey, was tried by a gentleman who lately visited the island: he had seen the attack of the hawk on the gannet, and the successful result. When he visited the part of the island named “The Fair,” where these birds congregate in great numbers, he struck some of them with a cane on the back of the head, and the disgorgement of the fish they had swallowed immediately took place. By three P.M. we were off the settlement, in the roadstead of which an American ship, and several British men-of-war, were lying at anchor. We did not enter the roadstead, but, hoisting our ensign and number, proceeded on our voyage, and by the evening left the island far in the distance. Having on a former voyage, in 1831, visited and landed upon this island, I perhaps may be excused for introducing the following account, from observations made at that period:—